Ste. Rose Du Lac girl swept away in river saved by firefighters

STE. ROSE DU LAC, Man. — A pair of small-town firefighters are being hailed as heroes after rescuing a 12-year-old girl from a flooded creek northwest of Winnipeg.

The girl and her father were in a pickup truck Saturday night on a low-lying road, trying to cross a creek near Ste. Rose Du Lac.

Daryl Vandenbosch, the fire chief, says the road was flooded, the truck got stuck and the father and daughter got out and tried to get to safety.

The girl was swept away by the strong current but managed to cling to a tree.

Police and a fire crew responded, two firefighters went into the water and one plucked the girl to safety.

The girl, her father and the two firefighters were all taken to hospital with various stages of hypothermia.

“When our members arrived on scene, they realized there was a girl who had been swept down the creek a bit and she was hanging on to a tree on the side,” Vandenbosch said Monday.

“I’m proud of my guys. They jumped to help right away and … roped up and they went into the water, the two of them, and the one went right up to her. He was about up to his neck in the water and got her off the tree and got her back to shore,” he added.